“Who is she?” Arai had gotten back with Zeph only an hour, maybe two, before one of her men came to her about a mysterious woman.

“I don’t know. She just keeps saying she must speak with a bird and a prince….. We figured she meant you two.” Arai looks on as the weathered old woman hobbles up to her.

“Dignified elder, what business could someone of your stature have at this lowly dwelling?”

The woman repeats herself again. “My words are only for the children of nature’s crowns. I have come to talk with the royal dark bird and her water prince.” Arai stiffens at these titles that could only be referring to her and Zeph. How did this woman know about their secret and what did she want with them? “I mean no harm, only to speak with them.”

“I am known as the Robin. If you truly do not wish anyone here harm, I see no reason not to grant you the audience that you came here for.” Arai turns away only long enough to send a message with one of her men for Zeph to meet her at the cottage. “If you will follow me, I’ll bring you somewhere we can talk privately.”

They reach the cabin just moments before Zeph. It is only after the three of them are inside with the door closed that the woman speaks again. “I am to assume you are the ones in this place who are of air and water? It is not that I doubt you, children, but I must be sure that you are who I came to see. If I may be so bold, please show me the marks unique to you as proof you are who I seek.” Arai and Zeph pass embarrassed and wary glances between themselves. While this mysterious person seemed to already know about them, it could still be some sort of trap but at the same time they wouldn’t know what her motives were until they complied. Arai turns her back to the other occupants of the room and loosens her shirt before lowering it off her shoulders, revealing the design on her back. The pattern, a mirror of itself on either side of her spine, captivates Zeph. Both loose spirals point to their respective shoulder. Each has two curves coming out from them without being connected to the swirls. It reminds Zeph of the majestic wings that come from this very mark. It takes quite a bit of willpower for him to resist the desire to go over to Arai and kiss her back right in the middle of the design.

Realizing that his own embarrassment is nothing compared to how his love must be feeling, Zeph promptly pulls off the wrapping around his neck. Having pulled her shirt back on, Arai turns to Zeph, where her eyes are instantly drawn to his unnaturally pale neck. Across the left side are three wave-like scars, stopping at a vertical line just behind the ear line. The vertical line curled into itself at the top while a teardrop hung from the bottom. The ex-princess knows how frightening revealing his hidden birthmark must be for the previously withdrawn prince. She puts a comforting hand on his arm. Arai wishes she could do more to comfort Zeph, but now is not the time and she doesn’t want to overstep her bounds.

“My deep apologies, your majesties. You are indeed children of my sisters. I am Esmeralda of the woods.” As she speaks, her elderly appearance dissolves into a woman who looked no older than 20, clothed in a dress made of a spring forest.

“So you’re related to both our mothers? Then how is it that we haven’t ever met before?” Arai is sure she would remember meeting someone like this sorceress. Wait a moment, if she’s telling the truth, doesn’t that mean Zeph and I are cousins?

“Yeah, my mom’s never mentioned you either.”

“Nay, I speak not of your birth mothers. My sisters and I have not the abilities to give birth, but what we do have is the skills to grant such a gift to others. You two were conceived using magic given to your parents from Sister Sapphire of water and Sister Crystal of air. As the firstborns of these gifts, you have been given a birthright from their elements, but I sense them to not be complete. I can only conclude that your parents both rejected your heritage, deeming the effects a curse. Incomplete, that may be truth, but I have been drawn here because what has been hidden is now the only thing that can save us all.”

“I don’t quite understand, what is it you want with us?”

“There is more at stake, my dear prince, than just your own kingdom in this war you are waging. I wish for- nay need- your success. I have not the gifts to train the two of you properly, but I can teach you how to learn. If you accept the assistance of mine, I will be found at the clearing within the ring of ancient wood when your decision is acted upon.”

“How do you know about that place?”

“As if the guardian of these forests would know not of such an important location for our people, especially as I created it. It has served its purpose as retreat for nature’s royalty for many of a human’s generations.”

“You created it? But those trees are so large, they must have been planted hundreds of years ago.”

“When the ancestor of the forest’s eldest tree was but a seed, I had already become ruler of this land.” Esmeralda suddenly gets a distracted look in her eye before focusing back on the two young adults. “My apologies, but there is other urgent business that must be attended to. We shall talk again, I am sure of this. Wait not long until then.” With this she walks out of the cabin before disappearing in the woods.

Zeph and Arai just stare at each other for a few minutes as their brains try to comprehend what just happened. Finally Zeph speaks up. “I guess the first thing we have to decide is if we believe her story. It does sound kind of crazy….”

“Well, I’m a female bandit who has wings, and you’re a prince refugee who wears dresses and can breathe underwater. How are her claims any more unbelievable than we are?”

***

The house, if it could be called that, looks to be held together with scraps of wood and prayers. In fact, the whole village seems as if a mild breeze would collapse the entire place. For some it might be surprising to find out that such a sad excuse for a village is less than an hour's horseback ride from the prestigious manor of the king’s brother by marriage. Of course for the residents of his lands, such contrasts were just everyday occurrences. The manor’s master had become a tyrant since the death of his wife and birth of his child, Adrian.

Despite all that, for Hannah, this was home and she couldn't imagine it any other way. Usually she would be staying in the servants’ quarters of the manor, but she had been dismissed for the next few days without explanation. Thus her sudden visit with her family. She walks through the open doorway.

“Mother, I’m home.” An older woman turns around in surprise that turns to worry after registering how lifeless her daughter’s greeting is.

“Hannah, is everything okay?” The girl scowls at her mother.

“Of course, why wouldn't it be?”

“You seem different… darker” Hannah herself hadn’t noticed, but she had changed. She was not as cheerful and energetic as she used to be. It was still slight, but a mother could tell. What her mother does not know is the cause. Nor does she know that, while it could still be explained away as exhaustion, once back in Adrian’s grasps, it would get much worse. If she had known that, Hannah's mother would have done anything to stop her from returning to the castle when her days off were completed. What things could have been different if that one commoner woman had known the truth.